AFTER MAKHNO The Anarchist underground in the Ukraine AFTER MAKHNO in the 1920s and 1930s: Outlines of history By Anatoly V. Dubovik & The Story of a Leaflet and the Pate of SflHflMTbl BGAVT3AC060M the Anarchist Varshavskiy (From the History of Anarchist Resistance to nPM3PflK CTflPOPO CTPOJI Totalitarianism) "by D.I. Rublyov Translated by Szarapow
Nestor Makhno, the great Ukranian anarchist peasant rebel escaped over the border to Romania in August 1921. He would never return, but the struggle between Makhnovists and Bolsheviks carried on until the mid-1920s. In the cities, too, underground anarchist networks kept alive the idea of stateless socialism and opposition to the party state. New research printed here shows the extent of anarchist opposition to Bolshevik rule in the Ukraine in the 1920s and 1930s.
Cover: 1921 Soviet poster saying "the bandits bring with them a ghost of old regime. Everyone struggle with banditry!" While the tsarist policeman is off-topic here (but typical of Bolshevik propaganda in lumping all their enemies together), the "bandit" probably looks similar to many makhnovists.
Anarchists in the Gulag, Prison and Exile Project BCGHABOPbBV Kate Sharpley Library BM Hurricane, London, WC1N 3 XX. UK C BftHflMTMSMOM! PMB 820, 2425 Channing Way, Berkeley CA 94704, USA www.katesharpleylibrary.net Hidden histories of Anarchism in the Ukraine ISBN 9781873605844 Anarchist Sources #12 AFTER MAKHNO
The Anarchist underground in the Ukraine in the 1920s and 1930s: Outlines of history By Anatoly V. Dubovik & The Story of a Leaflet and the Pate of the Anarchist Varshavskiy (From the History of Anarchist Resistance to Totalitarianism) "by D.I. Rublyov
Translated by Szarapow
Kate Sharpley library 2009 I After Makhno: The Anarchist underground in the Ukraine in the 1920s and 1930s The Anarchist underground in the Ukraine in the 1920s and 1930s: Outlines of Outlines of history history By Anatoly V. Dubovik By Anatoly V. Dubovik (Dnepropetrovsk), 2007 & The Story of a Leaflet and the Fate of the Anarchist Varshavskiy (From the History The period after the end of the Russian Civil War is still largely a blank space in the of Anarchist Resistance to Totalitarianism) by D.I. Rublyov history of socialist movements that were opposed to the Bolshevik regime. Appar- ently, such a situation is due to an extremely poor number of sources available for Translated by Szarapow studies: huge (we have no doubts about that) numbers of archive cases that are held Rear cover photo: Aron Baron. by the heirs of OGPU-NKVD are barely accessible to any relatively large number © Authors 2009. Copyright prevents reproduction for profit. of historians; the emigre sources (periodicals, memoirs, personal correspondence ISBN 9781873605844 Anarchist Sources #12 etc.) are also given insufficient scientific circulation. The studies in the history of the anarchist movement are no exception in this The Kate Sharpley Library depends on donations. If you want to support our work sense. Only very recently has it become clear that the Soviet and foreign historians' please get in touch. For hundreds on articles on anarchism and anarchist history, notions of the anarchists in the USSR after 1921 cannot be reduced to the dark and information on our other publications, please visit our website. picture of a movement dying and fading away which was painted in 1960-1980s by Kate Sharpley Library the likes of S. Kanev and V. Komin in the USSR and P. Avrich in the USA. In fact BM Hurricane. London, WC1N 3XX, UK the anarchists continued their activities throughout 1920s and even into the 1930s, PMB 820, 2425 Channing Way, Berkeley CA 94704, USA and in this writer's view, this movement was sometimes even more sizeable than the www.katesharpleylibrary.net anarchism of some earlier periods, e.g. of the time between the 1905 and 1917 02-09, 09-09 revolutions. A creation of the true history of the anti-Bolshevik socialist movement in the British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data available USSR is a project for the future. In this article we will attempt to make the most basic rough draft, preliminary outline, contours of the history of anarchism in the Anarchists in the Gulag, Prison and Exile Project Soviet Ukraine - the outlines that will, in the future, certainly be filled in by more http://gulaganarchists.wordpress.com/ detailed and precise research. ***** In the view of the average person and even of some historians, anarchism in the What is Anarchism? Ukraine during the Civil War means first and foremost the Makhnovist movement. Anarchism is a political theory which opposes the State and capitalism. It says that Such a view is generally incorrect but we shall start our overview with the people with economic power (capitalists) and those with political power (politicians Makhnovslichina. It will be all the more interesting considering that it is thought the of all stripes left, right or centre) use that power for their own benefit, and not (like "anarcho-makhnovist" insurgent movement ceased to exist from the moment Nestor they claim) for the benefit of society. Anarchism says that neither exploitation nor Makhno himself fled from the Ukraine to Romania - immediately, or perhaps within government is natural or necessary, and that a society based on freedom, mutual aid the next few months. and equal shares of the good things in life would work better than this one. In reality, in 1922 and 1923 in the Left-bank, South and East Ukraine independ- Anarchism is also a political movement. Anarchists take part in day-to-day strug- ent Makhnovist detachments and underground groups kept operating. The scope and gles (against poverty, oppression of any kind, war etc) and also promote the idea of results of their activities are naturally incomparable with what was happening in comprehensive social change. Based on bitter experience, they warn that new 1921, and the summaries of the banditry-fighting organs most often mention defeats 'revolutionary' bosses are no improvement: 'ends' and 'means' (what you want and and liquidations of the Makhnovists. For example, in January 1922 the Destructive how you get it) are closely connected. detachment of the Bogucharsky regiment as a result of two battles in Starobelsky uyezd [district] defeated the Zaitsev insurgent detachment (over 70 fighters); Zaitsev of the guerrilla-bandit groups" during the following year. In order to achieve that in himself was killed. That same month in the village of Vozvizhenka in Gulyaypolsky several districts GPU banditry-fighting shock groups had to be organised. They uyezd an underground Makhnovist group numbering 11 people was arrested, and its were obliged to compile by January 1925 operative plans on the liquidation of gangs leader Kulinichenko was killed during an escape attempt. In February in Krivoroz- and to have exact information as to their connections, bases, numbers and hsky uyezd the Ivanov insurgent group was destroyed (120 people), in Poltava armaments. region the Lontsov detachment surrendered (200 people). In March in Gulyaypolsky However, by mid-1920s the Makhnovist insurgency was actually but a "remain- uyezd an insurgent detachment that consisted of 134 previously pardoned Makhno- der" of the previous mass movement, dying under the strikes of the punitive expedi- vists was defeated and destroyed, and in a battle in early May the Boiko insurgent tions and decomposing in the situation of isolation into ever-smaller detachments detachment was defeated. and gangs. As opposed to this, the purely anarchist movement, which mostly Nevertheless, there were more than just defeats in the Makhnovist insurgency of covered the cities, gained new strength in that period. We shall move on to its this period. In the spring of 1922 the Danilov insurgent detachment undertook a history. series of attacks and train robberies on the railroad section between Pologi and Chaplino stations. In Volhynia a mounted group of Makhnovists was making raids; Judging by the materials available today, 1922 was the last year of legal practi- its 30 to 50 members, according to the Soviet intelligence sources, came to the cal activity of Russian and Ukrainian anarcho-syndicalists - practical in the syndi- Ukraine from Romania. Alongside more or less active guerrilla operations, raids and calist understanding of the word, i.e. as part of the organised workers' movement, in leaflet distribution, there were even cases of new detachments forming, for example, union and factory structures. in Genichesky uyezd where in April 1922 a new Makhnovist detachment formed, For example, in early 1922 the Ekaterinoslav anarcho-syndicalists were still on numbering 32 people and headed by the former chief of the uyezd militia. the board of administration of the city Food workers' union but in late March they Quite a number of such facts could be listed. But the matter now is not the were "removed" after a decision of the provincial Union congress. number of such facts and their scrupulous listing. The most important thing is that Until the Autumn of 1922 anarcho-syndicalists were members of administrative "Makhnovschina after Makhno" is a historical reality that demands to be studied. organs of local coal miners' unions and mine committees in a number of towns and Moreover, it has to be acknowledged that the question of when the Makhnovist villages of Donbas - where the ideas and organisational principles of the American insurgency ended is yet to be closed because the documents that are in circulation syndicalist organisation Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) started to spread in among historians do not provide a definite answer. For example, the summary of the Summer 1917. Among these towns were Yuzovo (Donetsk), Lugansk, Gorlovka etc. Intelligence department of the armed forces of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Repub- In 1922 anarchists (probably not just syndicalists) were active (legally or other- lic (UkrSSR). dated July 14, 1922, mentions that in the territory of Donetsk, wise) in other cities and regions of the Ukraine - Kiev, Odessa, Poltava, Sevastopol, Ekaterinoslav, Zaporozhye and Chernigov provinces "gangs aren't present" - while Elisavetgrad, Nikolaev etc. But Kharkov remained the most important centre of the in March 1923 only in the territory of Melitopolsky uyezd there are reports of three Ukrainian anarchist movement of the early 1920s, much like during the civil war. acting Makhnovist detachments (led by Krivorotko, Kozakov and Kizilov), number- Despite the mass arrests in November and December 1922 - which were under- ing a total of over 30 people. taken by the GPU throughout the USSR, targeted anarchists and socialists and Here's another example. The instruction of the Permanent council on the struggle actually liquidated the anarchist organizations that hitherto survived, e.g. the against banditry of the Soviet of People's Commissars of the UkrSSR, dated All-Russian Section of Anarcho-Universalists (Vserossiyskaya Sektsiya Anarkho- December 14, 1922, remarks on the degeneration of political banditry into criminal- Universalistov) - the Kharkov anarchists already managed to restart their work in ity. - But half a year later, on May 23, 1923, the instruction of the Commander of 1923. the troops of the Ukrainian military district and the GPU says that "many kulak In the beginning of the year several Kharkov-based anarchist circles gangs are acting in the guise of criminal ones." - I.e. we can see that not only the re-established the city-wide organisation on the former programme of the Nabat presence of the political "kulak gangs" is noted, but also their numbers. Confederation of Anarchists of the Ukraine (Konfederatsiya Anarkhistov Ukrainy In December 1924 the GPU of the UkrSSR, fulfilling a request from the "Nabat", KAU Nabat). Anarchists were active at a number of large industrial Ail-Union Council of People's Commissars, made a decision "to smash the remains works, foremost of which were the steam-locomotive-building works, railroad depot and VEK factory; among other things, they were taking part in union activity. At workers and young people. Union member Khaim Vaninskiy maintained connections the Technology institute a student group was organised; it was headed by Alexan- with the exiled Secretariat of the Russian Confederation of Anarchist-Syndicalists der Volodarskiy, recently pardoned from the condemned cell, and the young (Rossiyskaya Konfederatsiya Anarkhistov-Sindikalistov, RKAS) and Moscow anarchist Boris Nemiretskiy who was also involved in the clandestine activities anarcho-communists. among the Central Archives employees of which he was one. The old anarchist After Kharkov, the second most important city where the anarchists kept up the Avenir Uryadov who was condemned to hard labour back in the Tsarist times and struggle was Odessa. It was a hub for anarchist activities in the Ukraine as early as just freed after a three-year stint at the Bolshevik political isolator got a job as a 1904. According to the testimony of the well-known Makhnovist and Nabat tram-driver and started an active propaganda and agitation campaign among the anarchist Viktor Belash given in 1937, the Odessa group, via the legendary "grand- industrial and office workers of the Kharkov tram depot. Among the handicraftsmen mother" of Ukrainian and Russian anarchism Olga Taratuta who was freed from who were forced by the Soviets to unite in artels the work was undertaken by old internal exile in the North of Russia in early 1924, established an illegal channel via anarchists Pyotr Zakharov who was a board member of the producers' co-operative the Soviet-Polish border near Rovno. Using this "corridor," anarchists smuggled and Grigoriy Tsesnik. literature into the USSR, sent couriers abroad and into the USSR etc. The Rovno In 1923 and 1924 the Kharkov members of Nabat were successfully conducting "corridor" was used by anarchists in different cities: the emigre literature was deliv- anarchist propaganda among the various aforementioned categories of workers and ered not just into the Ukraine, but also to Moscow, Leningrad, Kursk, Volga Region attracted both young people and older proletarians to their cause. The group was etc. One of the activists of the Kharkov Nabat, Pomeranets, crossed the border publishing duplicated leaflets and intended to organise an underground printing repeatedly and maintained regular connections with the RKAS Secretariat in Berlin shop. In order to facilitate that the former leader of the Elisavetgrad anarchist youth and with the anarcho-Makhnovist centres in Warsaw and Bucharest. group luda Reidman got a job at a printing-house but he couldn't fulfill his task of The renewal of the inter-regional connections and stirring up of the anarchist obtaining the type. underground permitted them to consider holding a congress of the Ukrainian The Kharkov group included not just veterans of the movement who had experi- anarchists - their first since September 1920. The Kharkov group planned it for enced the Tsarist prisons and the troubles of the Civil War - it was reinforced by August 1924 but the circumstances were not favourable for these plans. the new generation of anarchists. For example, the accountant-economist of the In late 1923 and in the first half of 1924 the Kharkov Nabat members have Kharkov liqueur and vodka factory Grigoriy Diyakov joined the group in 1923, managed to organise and lead several economic strikes in factories and railroad aged 20; he was arrested in March 1925 for his belonging to the "anarchist workshops. The forms used were not just of classic strikes, but also of "Italian" underground." strikes ("work-to-rule"). The demands in these industrial actions were usually the The Kharkov group was connected to the anarchist underground in a number of reduction of production norms or refusal to raise them (slogans that were urgent at other cities (Kiev, Ekaterinoslav, Nikolaev, Donbas etc.) and also, it has to be the times of the New Economic Policy). In most cases that was successful. added, with the Left Socialist-Revolutionaries and Maximalists. The connection But the rise of the industrial action tide and growth of the anarchist movement with the SRs was maintained via the well-known Left Socialist-Revolutionary Party were stopped by GPU repressions. In Spring 1924 arrests of underground anarchist activist Vladimir Trutovskiy who was exiled in Poltava in 1925-1926 and led the groups were undertaken in Yuzovo (the local leader Otto Retovskiy was since then clandestine activities of the Ukrainian Left SRs. Much like many of his fellow party permanently confined to prison and internal exile), Poltava (the liquidated group members, he was quite definitely drifting in the direction of anarcho-syndicalism - was headed by the former Makhnovist commander Dmitry Bozhko) and Klintsy. In he recognized "the stateless federation of producers and consumers" as the ideal of August 1924 a series of simultaneous arrests of anarchists undermined the clandes- Left SRs. tine work in Kharkov, Kiev and Ekaterinoslav. By the end of the year in Kharkov Ukrainian anarchists were active even in small provincial towns - e.g., in the alone over 70 people were arrested, accused of active anarchist clandestine work. Chernigov province the Klintsy Union of Anarchist-Syndicalists (Klintsevskiy The most active of them were sentenced by the OGPU board to imprisonment at the Soyuz Anarkhistov-Sindikalistov) was active. After the union and its organizations Solovki Special Purpose Camp or at the political isolators, the rest were internally - club and library - were shut down by the authorities in 1921, the organisation exiled or were limited in their choice of place to live (so-called "minuses"). continued to function illegally, conducting meetings and propaganda work among The arrests continued later. In February 1925 a summary by the UkrSSR GPU Belash, their development and particularly re-establishment of anarchist activity reported that the GPU organs had discovered the interconnected underground were hindered by lack of people capable of organisational and propaganda work, groups of anarchists and Makhnovists in Ekaterinoslav, Belaya Tserkov, Novograd- corruption of everyday life and falling prey to philistinism. Moreover, some of the Volynsky, Mariupol and Berdyansk. - Obviously by the time the summary was communards were gradually turning from Makhnovists into Bolsheviks. Another compiled all of these groups were liquidated. hindrance to the anarchist work was also the lack of trust between the former After the 1924 arrests, there remained a clandestine anarchist group in Kharkov Makhnovists who felt the attention from the punitive organs and were wary of GPU in the mid- to late-1920s although its propaganda work was undertaken on a much provocations - some thought that Belash's sudden appearance in their region was smaller scale now. The anarchists managed to maintain connections with the emigre one. centres, continued verbal propaganda among the industrial and office workers, Among the anarchists who distrusted Belash during his trip was the group led by gathered money for exiled comrades in the Anarchist Black Cross fund. the well-known Makhnovist commander Avraam Budanov. After being pardoned in Anarchists who were set free after years-long imprisonment, in some cases late 1923, Budanov settled in Mariupol and by mid-1920s he organised and headed started during the Civil War, also joined these clandestine activities. In late 1925 the an underground group that conducted propaganda among workers in Mariupol and aforementioned Viktor Belash was allowed out of the Kharkov GPU prison. He the peasants in the nearby villages and distributed duplicated leaflets. Upon meeting reestablished his membership in the underground KAU immediately and on a Belash, Budanov studiously showed his disillusionment in political activity, commission from the Kharkov group undertook a tour of the Makhnovist region in although he was interested in the state of affairs in the Kharkov organisation. Belash 1925-1926 with the purpose of establishing connections with the former insurgents, was mislead by this "security ruse" - and as it soon turned out, for no good reason. discovering underground groups and connecting them with Kharkov. According to the USSR OGPU, the Budanov group, prompted by the start of complete collectivization in 1928, was intending to move from agitation and propa- It has to be mentioned that the former Makhnovists also experienced an upsurge ganda work to organising peasant anarchist guerrilla detachments and was gathering in interest from the punitive organs in mid-twenties. For instance, in June 1926 the arms for that purpose. Shortly before the (ostensibly) scheduled rising, in late 1928 UkrSSR GPU issued a top secret summary "On Makhnovists." Among other things the group was arrested, and the searches at the members' homes discovered a cache it mentioned that "Makhno is resuming his attempts at ideological leadership of the of arms. The GPU sentenced Budanov and another active ex-Makhnovist, Pantelei- kulak elements of the village," due to which the GPU organs were compelled to mon Belochub to death by the firing squad. It is curious that during the expose the former Makhnovists and maintain control over them, especially in the Makhnovschina Belochub was characterised as an anarchist "with a Soviet devia- regions where the Revolutionary Insurrectionary Army of Ukraine (Revolyutsion- tion," had some unclear relation to Yevgeniy Polonskiy's Bolshevik conspiracy [see naya Povstancheskaya Armiya Ukrainy, RPAU) was active in 1919-1921. endnote] and in early 1921 deserted the RPAU and surrendered under an amnesty. Fulfilling his commission, during 1927 Belash established relations with the A similar, highly secretive clandestine group was active at the same time in the Makhnovists in Huliaipole. They were led locally by brothers Vlas and Vasiliy Mezhevskiy district of the Dnepropetrovsk oblast. It was led by the pardoned Left Sharovskiy. It is interesting that Vasiliy Sharovskiy at the time was a committed SR and anarchist Ivan Chernoknizhniy, former chairman of the Makhnovist Revolu- anarchist although he was a candidate to join the Communist Party and a member of tionary War Council. In 1928 the GPU arrested seven members of the local Soviet - although during the heyday of the Makhnovist movement he Chernoknizhniy's group and confiscated 17 bombs, 10 rifles, 1340 cartridges and belonged first to the Ukrainian Party of Socialist-Revolutionaries and then was a other weaponry. Regretfully, there is no available information about the connections Bolshevik sympathizer. The former Makhnovists in Huliaipole were holding between Budanov's and Chernoknizhniy's groups. meetings every now and then, some were "educating the anarcho-Makhnovist The information on arrests of anarcho-Makhnovist groups in Mariupol, youth" (like one of the Chubenko brothers in Novonikolayevka), attempting to Mezhevskiy district and in Odessa is contained in the OGPU information summary organise communes and artels. The most economically successful of those was the letter #34 "On anarchists," dated December 1928. The letter demanded that special Avangard commune in Basan village in the Pologovskiy district of Dnepropetrovs- attention of the punitive organs be paid to "the remainder of anarcho- kaya oblast. Ex-insurgents' communes also existed in the Greek village of Kermen- Makhnovshchina." Among the concrete measures offered were systematic work on chik. in Bolshaya Yanisol, in Konstantinovka, near Grishino. However, according to exposing the former RPAU cadres and their current anti-Soviet activity, as well as arresting 'anarcho-kulak' groups in the villages. The letter also mentioned that That same year there was also some dubious reports on collaboration between throughout 1928 23 anarchists and 21 Makhnovists were arrested in the Ukraine. the Dnepropetrovsk anarchists and "left-wing opposition": ostensibly, anarchists Speaking of the anarcho-Makhnovist underground, the attempts by the Makhno- and Trotskyites together attempted to cause strikes at the factories and at the vist centres abroad to revitalise the activity of their confederates in the UkrSSR railroad. can't be ignored. Strictly speaking, at the time we describe (late 1920s) there were Odessa anarchists made an attempt to revitalize their activity around the bound- two such centres - in Paris around Makh.no and in Bucharest, led by the former ary of 1928 and 1929. Under the pretence of a New Year's celebration they RPAU artillery commander-in-chief Vasiliy Danilov. It was the Bucharest centre - gathered together at a conference but were arrested by the GPU. In all, some 20 due to its vicinity to the Ukraine - that was particularly active, sending its agents people were held, including activists who were known from the Civil War and even into Soviet territory. For example, in September 1928 the Soviet-Romanian border Tsarist times - Aron Vainshtein, Abram Vulis, Lev and Abram Rabinovich, Berta was crossed by Makhnovist men Foma Kusch and Konstantin Chuprina who visited Tubisman, as well as young students and workers Lev Vainberg, Yakov and Aron Odessa and Huliaipole on a commission from the Bucharest centre of the Makhno- Gekselman, Lazar Rabinovich and others. vist emigres to establish connections with the former Makhnovists and underground In spring and summer 1929, in the situation of complete collectivization, the anarchist groups. Having fulfilled their task, both Makhnovist agents safely aforementioned ex-Makhnovists' communes were dispersed. The openly anarchist returned to Romania. In 1929 Kusch and Chuprina again illegally visited the Odessa members, such as the Sharovskiy brothers, Ivan Chuchko or Maxim Podkova, were region to reconnect with the Makhnovist underground and ostensibly to organise expelled from the Ukraine, and the communes themselves were reorganised into peasants unhappy with the collectivization into insurgent detachments. On their way collective and state farms. back both of them were arrested by the OGPU and re-recruited. - Although the According to OGPU data, in the first half-year of 1929, 62 anarchists and 40 "re-recruited" Kusch, upon his return to Romania, informed his emigre comrades Makhnovists were arrested in the UkrSSR. about his relationships with the OGPU and later led a double game misinforming the In summer 1929 the adherents of Pyotr Arshinov and Nestor Makhno's "Organi- Soviet secret services. sational Platform" made an attempt to spread their activity into the Ukraine. By that time a collective of anarchist old-timers who worked on the organisation of Union of There is relatively little information on the late 1920s anarchists apart from the Anarchist Workers (Soyuz Rabochikh Anarkhistov) formed in Moscow. Groups anarcho-Makhnovist underground. connected to the Union were organised in several cities in European Russia, the 1927 is marked by a "standalone" case of anarchist Noi Varshavskiy. He had Urals and Siberia. In the summer of that year David Skitalets, the "ardent 'Arshino- been an anarchist sympathizer since 1911 but previously hadn't taken any sort of vite' and experienced illegal worker" as his comrades characterised him, went to the active part in the anarchist movement. By 1927 he worked as a deputy head of the South on a Union commission. He visited the port cities of the Ukraine and Crimea labour protection department in the Central Committee of the chemical industry and managed to establish connections with the Black Sea Fleet sailors. With the aid trade union. In Summer 1927 he visited Moscow where he took part in old of these sailors the Moscow "centre" re-established connections with the anarchist anarchists' meetings - which is probably how the OGPU got him in their sights. On emigres and set up regular smuggling of the Paris-based Dielo Truda magazine into August 27, 1927, Varshavskiy was arrested at the Odessa train station immediately the USSR. It is worth noting that Skitalets was involved in exactly the same sort of after paying a visit to Olga Taratuta. During the arrest eight copies of a leaflet activity 18 years previously when he was one of the leaders in the Union of Black supporting the American anarchists Sacco and Vanzetti in Varshavskiy's handwrit- Sea Fleet Sailors (Soyuz Chernomorskikh Moryakov). Towards the end of 1929 the ing were confiscated. The leaflet protested the Soviet authorities' abuse of Sacco Union of Anarchist Workers was smashed by the NKVD, and it should be assumed and Vanzetti's names at the same time as in reality Soviet Russia itself bore that its Black Sea branch met the same fate. thousands of similarly martyred anarchists. After a four-month investigation, during which Varshavskiy shifted all the blame onto himself and shielded the Moscow Meanwhile, in 1930 the anarchist activities in Kharkov experienced a new anarchists and Taratuta in whatever way he could, in December 1927 he was upsurge. It was mainly thanks to the return of many previously arrested activists sentenced by the OGPU Board OSO to 3 years in a political isolator. whose exile terms had ended. At the initiative of Pyotr Zakharov, the Kharkov anarchists once again united in an organisation with the Nabat programme and name. It included Grigoriy Tsesnik, Avenir Uryadov, Reveka Yaroshevskaya (who Also in 1932 an anarcho-syndicalist circle in Cherkassy was arrested. It was I belonged to the Belostok anarchist group back in 1903) and other experienced organised by young worker Dmitriy Ablamskiy. The circle was distributing anti- underground workers, propagandists and organisers. Soviet leaflets. The leader was sentenced to 5 years in a prison camp. According to Belash, in the early 1930s the Kharkov anarchists were most inter- The well-known old Petrograd anarcho-syndicalists Pyotr Gerasimchuk and his ested and stirred up by the problems of collectivization and the famine that wife Lidiya Aksyonova settled in Simferopol after having been freed from internal followed. In relation to that they had discussed the perspectives of setting up a mass exile. In 1933 and 1934 they made attempts at underground work. They conducted underground press the use of which was supposed to facilitate the mass resistance to secret correspondence with the Moscow anarchists and discussed the perspectives of the literally cannibalistic policies of the authorities. But money was needed in order renewal of the anarchist movement in the USSR. After evaluating these perspectives to create an underground printing shop, and they didn't have any. Grigoriy Tsesnik, \s absolutely non-existent due to the police terror the spouses decided to escape appealing to the pre-revolutionary experience (including his own) proposed to abroad from the Soviet Union but they were arrested in early November 1934 as undertake a robbery ("expropriation") of a bank but he didn't get support. A they prepared their escape. During the investigation they were accused not just of meeting of the Kharkov Nabat members decided to gather the money needed for anti-Soviet but also of terrorist activity due to which they were both sentenced to the setting up a printing shop from the work of their ceramics-making artel and of the 5 years' imprisonment at the Solovki camp, unusually harsh punishment for the commune of old anarchists and SRs (members of the All-Union society of political period. convicts and exiles) in the Merefa settlement near Kharkov. Kharkov anarchists planned to hold a congress of Ukrainian Nabat groups and to Throughout 1930 and 1931 the Kharkov group re-established connections with reform the KAU. But once again the GPU forestalled them: on February 1, 1934, anarchists in Moscow and Ukrainian cities. They included: there were simultaneous arrests of interconnected anarchist groups and circles in •Elisavetgrad - a group of anarcho-syndicalists formed by "Vanya Chorniy" and Kharkov, Orel, Voronezh and Bryansk. In Kharkov several dozen people were other Nikolaev natives who were just freed from internal exile and settlement in arrested and two working artels of anarchists were liquidated. However, the Nikolaev; evidence probably wasn't sufficient and so the punitive organs decided to exile eight •Dnepropetrovsk - a group was revived after 1928 by the steam train engine-driver of the group leaders, while the rest were freed under surveillance. Leonid Lebedev who was wounded in 1923 during the infamous shooting in Of course, they didn't stay free for long. Already in 1935 Kharkov was Solovki; the group he led attempted to once again initiate worker strikes; "cleared" from anarchists who were arrested and sent into exile one after another. It •Simferopol where the freed from exile Boris and Lyubov Nemiretskiy settled; they was probably that year when the collection of money for the Black Cross and were active anarchists in the early 1920s; passing it to the exiled comrades finally ceased. •Kiev where another former exile, Boris Lipovetskiy, returned in 1930; By 1937 the vast majority of the Ukrainian anarchists were outside the republic •and also Voronezh, Bryansk and Orel where Ukrainian Nabat anarchists ended up - in prison camps and political isolators, or exiled in Siberia, the Far North or when they were exiled or limited in their choice of place of residence; one of those Middle Asia. The bacchanal of terror in UkrSSR had taken the form of a fight was the KAU leader and ideologist of many years, Aron Baron. against the "right-wing and Trotskyite conspirators" or "bourgeois nationalists," Probably unconnected to the Nabat network were relatively small anarchist and according to the UkrSSR NKVD data, in all of 1937 there were just 23 groups elsewhere in the Ukraine that weren't mentioned in Belash's testimony. Their anarchists arrested throughout the Ukraine. The case of a fifteen-strong group in existence was established from archive materials and other sources. Nikolaev region stands out - perhaps it really did exist. The remainder are the In 1930 the anarchist activity of Igor Breshkov, 17 years old metallurgist worker mostly solitary old anarchists who weren't previously arrested by some miracle. from Zaporozhye, started. He got introduced to anarchism via a Moscow anarcho- They lived in Donetsk region (two people, including anarcho-Makhnovist Ivan mystic of the same age, losif loffe. In 1930-1932 Breshkov was receiving illegal Lepetchenko), in Dnepropetrovsk, Kharkov, Kiev region (one person each), and anarchist literature from Moscow and attempted to distribute it. That led to his perhaps as a curiosity three of the chief UkrSSR NKVD workers. arrest on December 5, 1932. He was soon sentenced to 3 years in a prison camp. Finally, in mid-February 1938 in Huliaipoie and Dnepropetrovsk over thirty active ex-Makhnovists were arrested and accused of belonging to the illegal organi- sation the Huliaipole Military-Makhnovist Counterrevolutionary Insurgent
10 Regiment (Gulyay-Polskiy Voyenno-Makhnovskiy Kontrrevolyutsionniy Beliy P.P., Dyshlevoi P.S. Yedinstvo deistviy v zashchite zavoevaniy revolyutsii. Povstancheskiy Polk). Among the other charges were connections to the Ukrainian Boyevoye sotrudnichestvo trudyashchikhsya Ukrainy I Rossii v borbe protiv kulat- nationalist centre in Kiev, the foreign Makhnovist centre in Bucharest and Central skoi vooruzhonnoi kontrrevolyutsii (konets 1920-1922). Kiev. 1988. anarchist group in Moscow, armed struggle against the Soviet authorities, prepara- Bespechniy T.A., Bukreyeva T.T. Pravda I legendy o Nestore Makhno. Donetsk. tions for a rising, anti-Soviet agitation, working on terror and sabotage. The arres- 1996. tees included the Sharovskiy brothers (who were accused of leading the "regiment"), Borovik M.A. Anarkhistskiy rukh v Ukrayiny w 1917-1921 rr. // Ukrayinskyy Konstantin Cliuprina and Nazar Zuichenko. All of them were sentenced to death by Istorychnyy zhurnal. #1. 1999. the firing squad by a decision of the UNKVD Troika for the Dnepropetrovsk region, Goneniya na anarkhizm v Sovetskoi Rossii. Berlin. 1922. dated April 25, 1938. Yekaterinoslavskiy Pishchevik. #1. 05.01.1923. A similar case cropped up at the Zelyoniy Gai khutor in Zaporozhye region Kucher O.O. Rozgrom zbronoi vnutrushnoy kontrrevolyutsiyi na Ukrayiny v 1921- where 22 ex-Makhnovists were arrested. Seven of them, including the former deputy 1923rr. Kharkiv. 1971. commander of the RPAU Artillery, Dmitriy Sipliviy, were sentenced to be shot by Oppokov V. Lev Zadov: smert ot beskorystiya. Petrozavodks. Rudi-Bars. 1994. the UNKVD Troika for the Zaporozhye region. Orden rossiyskikh tampliyerov. M. Minuvsheye. 2003. T. 1-2. We will probably never know whether these cases were completely invented by Partiya Levykh Sotsialistov-Revolyutsionerov. Dokumenty I materialy. T. 1. lyul the investigators or there were some actual facts of clandestine activity... 1917-Mai 1918. Pod. red. Ya. Leontiyeva. M. ROSSPEN. 2000. Politychna I viyskova diyalnist Nestora Makhna. Materialy naukovo-teoretychnoi konferenstiyi. Zaporizhzhya-Huiliapolya, 12-13 listopada 1998. Zaporozhye. 1998. Endnote Rublyov D.I. Istoriya odnoi listovki I sudba anarkhista Varshavskogo (iz istorii Polonskiy Yevgeniy (7-02.12.1919) anarkhistskogo soprotivleniya totalitarizmu). // 30 oktyabrya. #66. 2006. Son of a fisherman in Berdiansk. Black Sea Fleet sailor. Member of Left SRs Sobstvennoruchniye pokazaniya Belasha Viktora Fyodorovicha. - V kn.: Yarutskiy party (1917-1918), Communist Party (Bolshevik) from Spring 1918. In February- L.D. Makhno I makhnovtsy. Mariupol. 1995. April 1918 worked as a member of Huliai-Polye revolutionary committee (Gulyay- Presse-Dienst, herausgegeben vom Sekretariat der IAA. Berlin, 8. November 1930. Polskiy Revkom), commander of "Free Battalion" ("Volniy Batalyon"). Member of Nr.l2(126). the Makhnovist movement from Autumn 1918, regiment commander. In Spring 1919 switched sides to RKKA (Workers & Peasants Red Army). In August 1919 joined the Makhnovshchina again, approved as a commander of the 3rd Crimean Maxepnajibi HayHHO-MccjieAOBaTeJibCKOH rpynnbi «PoccnHCKne couHajiHCTbi H regiment of the RPAU. Joined the underground Bolshevik revolutionary committee anapXHCTbi noc/ie OKT«6pa 1917 r.» npn HHI1L1, «MeMopHa;i» (MocKBa). which acted on the territory taken by the Makhnovists and prepared for assassina- Bejrauj A.B., Beiiauj B.<&. /JoporH Hecropa Maxno. KHCB. PBLJ, «Flpo3a». 1993. tions of Makhno and other leaders of the insurgency at its order. Was uncovered by FI.cl)., ^biujJieeoH FI.C. EAHHCTBO AencTBHH B sauiHTe 3aBoeB3HHH the Makhnovist counter-intelligence, arrested and shot on December 2, 1919 in . Boesoe coApy>KecTBO TpyaamHxca VKpaHHbi H POCCHH B 6opb6e r.katerinoslav. npoTHB KyjiauKOH BOopyweHHOH KOHTppeBOJiiouHH (KOHCU, 1920-1922). KHCB. (From www.makhno.rii. compiled by A. Dubovik, A. Belash) 1988. EecneHHbiH T.A., EyKpeesa T.T. FIpaBfla M jiereH^bi o Hecrope Maxno. ,ZJonenK. Sources: 1996. Materials of the scientific study group "Russian socialists and anarchists after BopoBHK M.A. AnapxicTCbKHH pyx B YKpai'HH y 1917-1921 pp. // October 1917" attached to NIPTs Memorial (Moscow). Belash A.V.. Belash V.F. Dorogi Nestora Makhno. Kiev. RVTs "Proza". 1993. JCTOpHHHHH >KypH3Jl. N° 1. 1999. Ha anapxMSM B CoBercKoH POCCHH. Bep^HH. 1922. riHineBHK. N» I. 05.01.1923.
12 13 The Story of a Leaflet and the Fate of Anarchist Varshavskiy (From the Kyliep O.O. I>o3rpoivi 36poinofi BHyrpiuiHbO'i KOHTppeeojiiouiY na YKpa'mH B 1921- History of Anarchist Resistance to Totalitarianism) 1923 pp. XapKie. 1971. OnnoKOB B. JleB 3a/ioB: civiepTb OT GecKopbicrnfl. nerpo3aBOACK. Pyan-Eapc. D.I. Rublyov1 1994. Some researchers, generally following the 1960s-1980s Soviet historiographic tradi- Op/ien POCCHMCKHX TaivinjiHepOB. M. MHHyBmee. 2003. T. 1-2. tion, view the 1920s as a period of crisis and decline of the anarchist movement in JlcBbix Cou,na.nHCTOB-PeBOJuouHonepoB. ^oKyMCHTbi H Marepnajibi. T. 1. the territory of the USSR.2 According to works by other authors and the documents 1917-Maii 1918. Ooa pea. H. JleoHTbesa. M. POCCFDH. 2000. published in late 1990s-early 2000s it is evident that the active struggle of anarchist i BifkbKOBa fliajibHicTb HecTOpa MaxHa. MarepiajiH organisations in many regions of the USSR continued throughout the 1920s in HayKOBo-TeopeTHHHoT KOHc|)epenuiV. 3anopbioKH-ry.nflHno.nfl, 12-13 jiHcrona^a conditions of repression and illegality. During that time the anarchists attempted to 1998. 3anopo>Kbe. 1998. reconstitute the federations that were previously smashed, published leaflets and PyGjieB /J.H McTOpHH oflHofi JIHCTOBKH M cyflb6a anapxHcra BapmaBCKoro (n3 underground magazines, actively participated in the unemployed workers' riots, ncTopnn anapxHCTCKOi o conpoTHBJieHHa TOTajiHTapH3My). // 30 OKTfl6pH. Ne 66. agitated for the creation of independent unions of workers, unemployed and 2006. peasants, called for the struggle to destroy the bureaucratic regime through social Co6cTBennopyMHbie noKa3annfl EeJiaiua Bni
15 14 Sacco and Vanzetti on August 26 and 27, 1927. The leadership of the VKP(b) and Barmash with whom he formed a close friendship. Varshavskiy also knew other organizations under its control developed a country-wide official protest campaign anarchists Khudolei, Kharkhardin, Ghezzi, Rogdayev, Borovoi, Alexei that included mass demonstrations, meetings at factories and plants and sending Solonovich, as well as anarcho-syndicalist Gerasimchuk." Indignant at the authorities' refusal to permit the meeting, in early August 1927 protest resolutions to the USA.6 The anarchists also participated in the campaign for Sacco and Vanzetti. In the Varshavskiy wrote a leaflet, the text of which we reproduce here: Summer of 1927 a group of Moscow anarchists sent abroad a telegram protesting With the oppressed against oppressors - always! Sacco and Vanzetti's sentence. It was signed by 12 people. At the same time the WORKING MEN AND WOMEN! Moscow anarchists decided to organise a protest meeting. It was expected that its For seven years, every day waiting for the execution, in the torture-chambers proposed aim - to express outrage at persecution of members of revolutionary of American bourgeoisie two workers languish anarchists SACCO and workers' movement in capitalist countries - would not cause it to be banned. Apart VANZETTI. from the chief purpose of the meeting, as one of its sponsors N. I. Varshavskiy The electric chair threatens the fighters who gave all of their days to the cause noted in his testimony several years later, "it was supposed that the meeting would of liberation of the oppressed from the yoke of capital, to the cause of struggle for provide us with an opportunity to propagate anarchist ideas and cause the listener to the future society where no man would exploit another. It's not the first time that the furious slave-owners try to make short work of the sympathise with them1'.7 The meeting was supposed to be addressed by well-known anarchists - Vladimir Barmash, Alexei Borovoi, Nikolai Rogdayev, Vladimir slaves who realize the tasks that lie ahead of them. There's no government in the Khudolei and Ivan Kharkhardin. Barmash and Varshavskiy handed in the applica- world, be it fascist, democratic or Soviet, the hands of which wouldn 't be stained tion to hold a meeting to the Administrative department of the Moscow soviet with blood of conscious anarchist proletarians but no amount of terror will ever several times but they were refused. The meeting did not take place. stop the coming revolution, or weaken the workers' will to fight. Every execution Let's talk a little about our article's chief hero. recruits new thousands into our ranks. Noi Ilyich Varshavskiy [translator's note: The biography on Memorial website The savage reprisal that is being prepared for Sacco and Vanzetti has stirred (http://socialist.memo.ru/lists/bio/l4.htin) by Anatoly Dubovik gives his first name up millions-strong masses of workers; the proletariat of the entire world wrestles as Noi (not Non). Taken from documents of the Political Red Cross (Politicheskiy two of its committed fighters from the strong claws of the bourgeoisie through Krasniy Krest), and their questionnaires.] was born in 1895 in Poltava in a Jewish striking and demonstrating, besieging the American consulates and boycotting petty bourgeois family. His father was a white-collar worker in a printing-house. American products. From his early childhood Varshavskiy lived in Kursk where he graduated from a Even the bureaucratic clique of the various yellow unions and parties, as it commercial school by 1914. Between 1915 and 1921 he lived in Kiev where he went fears losing the remainder of their allies, is forced into writing hypocritical in order to get further education. It seems that he didn't succeed in that - the protests. As the ruling Communist party makes noise to support Sacco and Vanzetti, at questionnaire he tilled in during his arrest in 1949 lists his education as "primary."8 the same time it stuffs its gaols full of their comrades-in-arms and increases From 1921 he lived in Moscow. By then Varshavskiy was married9 and had a daughter.'" After meeting anarchist P. Chernenko in Kursk in 1911 he was an trading with the American capital on the quiet. anarchist sympathizer though he didn't take an active part in the movement. Workers of the USSR who are pressed by the grip of the communist reaction Between 1915 and 1927 Varshavskiy's interest in anarchism was expressed in would nevertheless not fall behind their brothers abroad and fulfil their task to the buying and reading anarchist literature, befriending some anarchists and visiting - end. in 1917 and 1919 the anarchist and maximalist club in Kiev. Actually, Comrades, protest against the execution of Sacco and Vanzetti. Varshavskiy's active participation in the anarchist movement started in 1927. At the Unmask the hypocrisy of the ruling party, demand the liberation of Sacco and time he worked as deputy head of the labour protection department in the Central Vanzetti's anarchist comrades who languish in the gaols of the USSR. Committee of the chemical industry trade union where he met anarchist Mariya Demand the trade relations with America to be broken. Vartanovna Petrosova who worked in the same department. Petrosova introduced Down with the executioners ' governments! Down with the state, the capital and him to one of the leaders of Moscow anarcho-communists, Vladimir Vladimirovich the gaols'.
16 17 Raise higher the black flag of struggle for anarchy, for economic equality, for Varshavskiy refused to co-operate with the investigation when he was interro- the destruction of unemployment, for free organisations of the city and the village gated. Besides refusing to say who helped him type up the leaflet in Moscow, he - trade unions and co-operatives independent from the stale. refused to disclose the name of his acquaintance with whom he wanted to meet in Odessa, disclose who "Dvoi" and "Aron" (mentioned in the note that was taken Long live anarchy! from him) were and tried to shield Taratuta. He insisted that he visited her by A group of anarchists.|: We reproduce the text of the leaflet from the typewritten copy that was included accident, as an old friend, and didn't discuss anarchism or leaflets with her. He with Varshavskiy's investigation case when he was re-arrested in 1949. He maintained that he only brought with him the leaflets that were confiscated from him maintained then that he made eight typewritten copies of the leaflet. It is not very at the train station. He also denied having any criminal plans against the authorities clear whether Varshavskiy's actions were a part of prepared campaign by the and said that the leaflets were written by him with no purpose to distribute them but Moscow anarchists. Neither it is known if the other anarchists in Moscow knew exclusively "from the mood." Even after the Odessa GPU searched Taratuta's home about the leaflet, or if they attempted to copy and distribute it. The materials of and confiscated the two remaining leaflets, Varshavskiy maintained his line of Varshavskiy's archive investigation case do not contain any information regarding defense and insisted that he didn't know how the leaflets he typed up ended up with the distribution of the leaflet in Moscow. In his testimony to the investigators both Taratuta. Some of Varshavskiy's statements to the investigators seem pretty naYve in 1927 and in 1949 Varshavskiy maintained that he didn't distribute the leaflet in and unprepared. For example, he claimed: "I have no relation to the meeting Moscow and didn't inform any of the Moscow anarchists about his plans. He whatsoever, I went with Barmash [to the Administrative department of the Moscow absolutely refused to say whose typewriter was used to make copies of the leaflet. soviet. - D.R.] because I was idle."15 Varshavskiy was taken to Moscow and on Vladimir Barmash, who was also interrogated in connection with the Varshavskiy December 23, 1927 was sentenced by a decision of the Special Council attached to case in 1927, denied any connection between the leaflet and the Moscow anarchists. the OGPU on article 58-10 of the RSFSR Criminal Code to three years in ITL Judging by Varshavskiy's further actions, he attempted to establish connection ['corrective-labour camp'].16 He served his sentence at the Suzdal political isolator. with the anarchists in the South of the country. During his summer vacation he went The Moscow anarchists seems to have informed the comrades abroad about to Odessa where on August 22 he visited the well-known anarchist Olga Ilyinichna Varshavskiy's arrest because in 1928, while at the political isolator, he received two Taratuta whom he met, according to his testimony during investigation, back at the small postal money orders from the French anarchists. According to his testimony, Kiev anarchist club. He discussed the contents of the leaflet with her and left two during his gaol time Varshavskiy moved away from active participation in anarchist copies to duplicate and distribute. Why did Varshavskiy had to get in touch with organisations. His words suggest that it was due to the sympathies of the Moscow Taratuta isn't very clear. Perhaps he was acting on a commission from the Moscow anarchists in the Barmash group for the ideas of Makhno and Arshinov's anarchists, namely Barmash and Petrosova with whom he was closer than with the "Platform" which advocated creation of an anarchist party, the role of which in the other comrades. Perhaps it was due to the fact that Olga Ilyinichna, old revolution- workers' movement they understood in almost the same way as the Bolsheviks. The ary and Tsarist-era political convict commanded a lot of respect among anarchists, ideological evolution of the comrades he respected, their aspiration to create a and due to her break with the Political Convicts' Society as a protest against the centralised party organisation were in Varshavskiy's eyes an evidence of failure of Bolshevik domination of its structures, had a reputation as a non-conformist. In any anarchism: "Later I continued standing on anarchist positions but after meeting case, Varshavskiy sought her approval and advice: "Taratuta commanded much Barmash, Khudolei and Kharkhardin again in 1929 at the political isolator and authority among anarchists, and that's exactly why I decided to ask her for finding out that they support creating an anarchist party, which didn't correspond advice."' with my convictions, I started to rethink my views on the fortunes of anarchy, and Varshavskiy, as an active anarchist, was probably tailed since the moment he left after long meditations I came to the conclusion that its idea proved to be Moscow. The circumstances of his all too quick arrest point to that. He intended to impracticable."17 After serving out his gaol sentence in 1930 he was internally go to Kiev from Odessa. Right after talking to Taratuta he went to the train station exiled to Siberia for three years. where he was arrested [translator's note: A day before Sacco and Vanzetti were Upon his return to Moscow in 1933 Varshavskiy got a job as work superinten- executed! That leaflet does ring true.]. During arrest the remaining six copies of the dent at construction sites. In this period he didn't associate with any of the anarchists that he was previously acquainted with, with the exception of the Italian leaflet were found on him, as well as a note from one "Dvof' to "Aron."1 18 19 anarchist emigre Francesco Ghezzi who lived in Odintsovo in the Moscow region his family contributed to his moving away from anarchism. Probably the most and once came to visit Varshavskiy. In September 1942 Varshavskiy was drafted to important reason for his disillusionment in anarchism was disillusionment in the Red Army and until October 1945 he served as military clerk and loader in the anarchists. His friends seemed to have come to ideas that weren't very far from rear units of the North-West, Leningrad and later Far Eastern fronts. He ended the Bolshevism. He didn't slander himself or anyone else in 1927 or 1949 which wasn't war as a private, and was awarded with a medal "For the Victory over Germany." that easy at the time. Until 1949 Varshavskiy kept anarchist literature at home After the war he worked as construction chief at the Ozeretskiy state farm, then as which was dangerous for him as an ex-anarchist. senior engineer at the MOSPO major construction works department. Published in 30 Oktyabrya newspaper, #66. 2006. pp. 8-9. On September 22, 1949 Varshavskiy, like many others who were previously http:/'/socialist, memo. ru/books/html/varshavsk\>. html gaoled under article 58 of the RSFSR Criminal Code, was rearrested and charged [Translated by Szarapow] with "active anti-soviet work."18 During a search of his apartment books on theory and history of anarchism he kept since the 1920s were discovered and confiscated: Notes Lev Chorniy's "On Classes" (published in 1919) and A. Borovoi and N. Otverzhen- 1 Dmitry Ivanovich Rublyov, post-graduate student at the State University of Humanitarian Sciences (Moscow), Candidate in History and senior lecturer at niy's "The Bakunin Myth" (published in 1925).'9 The materials of the case expose the investigator's attempts to force Varshavskiy into confessing about his "anti- MSUEE. soviet activities." But he maintained categorically that he didn't undertake any since 2 See: Kanev S.N. Oktyabrskaya revolyutsiya i krakh anarkhizma (borba partii bolshevikov protiv anarkhizma 1917-1922 gg.). I. 1974. Yermakov V.D. Anarkhist- his conviction in 1927 and has no connections to the anarchists.20 It seems that Varshavskiy was subjected to the many standard pressure methods during the inves- skoye dvizheniye v Rossii: istoriya i sovremennost. SPb. 1997. Shtyrbul A.A. tigation. Suffice to say that the interrogations listed in his case all took place at Anarkhistskoye dvizheniye v Sibiri v 1-y chetverti XX veka. (1900-1925). Chast 2. Omsk. 1996. And also articles by V.V. Krivenkiy in: Politicheskiye partii Rossii: night and lasted between 1 !/2 and 6 hours each.21 Although the investigation admitted that "no data confirming the undertaking of istoriya i sovremennost. M. 1996. S. 32-35. anti-soviet activities by the accused in the following years was discovered," 3 "Sovershenno sekretno": Lubyanka - Stalinu o polozhenii v strane (1922-1934 Varshavskiy, having been an active anarchist in the past, was recognized as a gg.). Tom 2. S. 31, 49, 97, 104-105, 131, 142, 153-154, 180-181, 209-210, 240, "socially dangerous person." On February 25, 1950 he was sentenced by the 271, 294, 307-309, 392, 397-398. See also: Yarutskiy M. Makhno i makhnovtsy. Special Council attached to the USSR Minister for State Security on article 7-35 of Mariupol. 1995. S. 330-342. Razumov A. Pamyati yunosti Lidii Chukovskoi. // the RSFSR Criminal Code to ten years" internal exile in the Krasnoyarsk Zvezda. 1999. # 9. S. 117-136. Leontiyev Ya.V. Iz istorii poslednikh stranits anarkho-dvizheniya v SSSR: delo A. Barona i S. Ruvinskogo (1934 g.) // Pyotr Territory.22 Varshavskiy attempted to dispute the OSO [Special Council] decision as illegal. Alexeyevich Kropotkin I problemy modelirovaniya istoriko-kulturnogo razvitiya But his complaint to the Minister of Internal Affairs Lavrentiy Beria, lodged on tsivilizatsii: materialy mezhdunarodnoi nauchnoi konferentsii. SPb. 2005. S. May 18, 1953 [translator's note: That's a few weeks after Stalin's death; in 1953 157-171. Glushakov Yu.E. Idei P.A. Kropotkina I ikh posledovateli v Belorussii: o there were mass amnesties, mostly of non-political convicts.] was turned down. The sudbakh i deyatelnosti anarkhistov v 1920-30-ye gg. // Pyotr Alexeyevich Kropotkin rehabilitation followed in 1955 by the decision of the judicial board on criminal I problemy modelirovaniya istoriko-kulturnogo razvitiya tsivilizatsii: materialy cases of the Supreme Court of the USSR. We are not aware of N.I. Varshavskiy's mezhdunarodnoi nauchnoi konferentsii. SPb. 2005. S. 82-83. On the activities and further fate. fates of Russia's anarchists in 1920s see also: Nikitin A.L. Mistiki, rozenkreitsery i Varshavskiy's choice to participate in the active anarchist struggle seems to have tampliery v Sovetskoi Rossii: issledovaniya i materialy. M. 2000; Bykovskiy S. been a conscious decision. Fie started his active participation as a grown-up, mature Anarkhisty - chleny Vsesoyuznogo obshchestva politkatorzhan i ssylnoposelentsev. family man, and at the most unfavourable time for the anarchists at that. After // Vsesoyuznoye obshchestvo politkatorzhan i ssylnoposelentsev. Obrazovaniye, seeing from his personal experience that under a totalitarian regime, legal work razvitiye, likvidatsiya. 1921-1935. M. 2004. S. 83-108; Dolzhanskaya L.A. "Ya byl i ostalsya anarkhistom". Sudba Franchesko Getstsi (po materialam sledstven- becomes absurd, he came to accept the necessity of underground work.23 Quick defeat in the struggle, lack of perspectives for the movement and probably worry for nogog dela). // Pyotr Alexeyevich Kropotkin I problemy modelirovaniya
20 21 I istoriko-kulturnogo razvitiya tsivilizatsii: materialy mezhdunarodnoi nauchnoi konferentsii. SPb. 2005. S. 238-256. 4 See: Nikitin A.L. Op. cit.; Orden rossiyskikh tampliyerov. Tt. 1-3. 1. 2003. 5 Leontiyev Ya.V. Op. cit. S. 160-162. Shubin A.V. Anarkhiya - mat poryadka. Mezhdu krasnymi i belymi. 1. 2005. S. 378-380. 6 For more details about this campaign see: Kulyshev Yu. Sakko i Vantsetti. I. 1963. S. 38, 43, 44. For the texts of the Comintern Executive Committee appeals see: Gornev A. Borba za Sakko i Vantsetti. M. 1927. S. 30-32. 7 GARF (State archive of the Russian Federation). F. 10035. Op. 1. D. P-30827. L. 21 ob — 22. 8 Ibid. L. 6 ob. 9 Wife - Anna Lvovna Nisnevich (born 1895). 10 Daughter — Liya Nonovna Varshavskaya (born 1919). 11 Pavel Petrovich Gerasimchuk, printer, from 1924 - one of the founders of the anarcho-syndicalist publishing house "Golos truda" ("Voice of Labour"). Varshavskiy knew him since 1925. At the time Gerasimchuk worked at the Federat- siya (Federation) anarchist bookstore in Moscow where Varshavskiy was buying anarchist literature. 12 GARF. F. 10035. Op. 1. D. P-30827. L. 38. 13 Ibid. L. 22. 14 This note and its contents are mentioned in the copies of the 1927 Varshavskiy examination record. But neither the note itself nor a copy thereof are included with the case. 15 GARF. F. 10035. Op. 1. D. P-30827. L. 43. 16 ITL (Ispravitelno-trudoviye lagerya) - Corrective labour camps. 17 GARF. F. 10035. Op. 1. D. P-30827. L. 26. 18 Ibid. L. 2. 19 Ibid. L. 18. 20 Ibid. L. 22 ob.., 31. 21 Ibid. L. 21,24, 27. 22 Ibid. L. 49, 56, 60, 62. 23 Ibid. L. 41.
22